This Week in Wood » Sharpening

Sharpening – Why oh why?

glennth — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:39:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to refresh my blades throughout my shop. The hand plane blades took me 2 days and then sharpening the chisels took another day. All of that wasn’t really a problem. The real problem is why can’t I get into the rhythm of sharpening when I sense a blade needs sharpening. I even have a dedicated sharpening station.

I have been working on my guitar builds for the last 6-9 months and have often felt that I should be sharpening blades. Why didn’t I get the stones out and sharpening the micro bevel. Each blade might take 3 minutes if that to get a nice sharp edge. It’s not like I have to lap the back of the blades or the soles of the planes. They are flat and even mirror polished.

I think that this routine of sharpening frequently is the secret of keeping sharp blades in a shop.

I know I dread flattening the stones which I’ve always done at the end of a sharpening station but with a single blade, that probably wouldn’t be a problem. Maybe oil stones would be better for the frequent sharpener.

In any case, I will endeavor to get to my sharpening task more frequently.

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Sharpening – Why oh why?

Sharpening – Hand Planes

glennth — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:54:02 +0000

I try to sharpen frequently so that I don’t have a big couple of days getting everything sharp but sometimes it’s just time to clean house. I decided after 2 shop projects and a bunch of guitar building that it was time to do that house cleaning.

First, I started with my hand planes. I have a 3 step process though not all steps are necessary every time.

First step, lapping the sole of the plane and the back of the plane blade. This step is not needed very often and sometimes it’s just an abbreviated step because I’m just cleaning off some surface stain or surface rust (I am in the Pacific Northwest so it’s wet here all the time so rust just happens).

My lapping process includes a flat surface (I use a slap of machinist grade granite) and sandpaper. I start with 60 grit and work up to 1500 or 2000 grit. If I’m just cleaning up a stain or rust, I may just start with 800 or 1000 grit which only takes a few minutes. I fight the stains and rust but using a lot of oil on the bare metal. It works some.

The results of lapping through the 1500 or 2000 grit should give a pretty good mirror finish which is nothing more than a sign that the sole or back is flat and smooth.

You can see the reflection of the paint brushes hanging above my work bench in the back of this nicely lapped hand plane blade.

My second step is to grind the primary bevel on the plane blade. I use a Tormek which has a lot of jigs for a lot of blades. For square blades, there is a square jig and for cambered blades, there is a jig from Jet Tools that works well.

In this shot, you can see the Jet cambering jig. Before I set up the blade in the jig though, I have to determine the camber and I have some templates for that.

I came up with these 6 templates based on my normal hand plane usage and a bunch of research from the internet (wow, there is a lot of info on exactly what the camber or radius should be based on bed angle, desired shaving thickness and blade width). In the case of the smoothing planes that I showed in the first picture, I use a 120″ or 150″ radius camber which is nearly flat but just a little tapered at the edges.

Kathy happened to come in at the grinding step and took a couple of action shots.

The final step of the 3 step process is one I do anytime that I’m sharpening and that is refreshing (or if I have grinded, creating) the micro bevel. For a square blade it is an easy task. The grinding gives the primary bevel a hallow which allows you to get a well defined flat. Once you determine this flat, you lift off of that flat so that you can sharpen the smallest micro bevel. I target 1/32″ or there a bouts for mine. For a cambered blade, you need to do the same but then rock as you pull the blade across the stone from one corner to the other. I use a magnifying lens to check my progress OFTEN.

I use Norton water stones. I’m happy with them though I may try Shaptons when these are exhausted.

When all this is done (or the steps that I need to do), I then reassemble the hand plane and test it out. I spray oil on the hand planes after each use again to fight staining and rust. As of this writing, I’ve got a nice arsenal of well tuned hand planes.

P.S. I’m still struggling with specialty blades (skews, funny shaped rabbit blades, and such). As of this point, I don’t grind these blades but just use the water stones. It’s a little more hand work but the set up on the grinder would probably take a bunch of time too.

Next I am moving to sharpening some chisels. After that, I always offer Kathy to sharpen some knives and she sometimes volunteers me to sharpen her mom’s knives too. In another day or two, we will have only sharp tools in our house.

Standing Laptop Desk – Top is on

glennth — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:27:08 +0000

I worked very hard and got the top flat and smooth along with square. This process really honed my hand plane skills which I’m pleased with (of course, all the work on maple means I need to sharpen the hand planes now).

I decided to make my own wooden clips. Here is a shot of the clips after I made them and then installed on the underside of the desk.

I did have to create access holes for tightening the screws in the clip. I’ve made grooves for the clips to travel for expansion and contraction. Here is a picture of the desk with a stool for size reference. I’m pretty pleased with results. My next part of the project is to make the drawer (and of course, make it fit and look good). I intend to have half blind dovetails for the drawer front and full dovetails for the back.

Shop minutiae

glennth — Tue, 04 May 2010 02:58:35 +0000

As I go through this standing maple desk project, I am sawing, planing, and sanding. Soon, I will be drilling and chiseling too. As I plane this hard maple (I really got reminded how hard it was today when I needed to cut a small piece of plywood in modifying a jig), I’m getting a better sense on how a blade feels when it dulls down (of course, I still am struggling with grain direction and tear out).

After a lot of planing, I needed to do some sharpening. I’m doing a nice, consistent job and making it quick too. Nice to see that I’ve really improved my sharpening to a consistent state.

When you see various experts working on projects, they leave out many of this kind of minutiae that has to go on during projects.

Lie-Nielsen Tool Event – Wrap up

glennth — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:13:14 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, I headed up to Port Townsend. It turned out to be a 2 1/2 hour road trip (each way, including the required ferry ride) though I was able to catch up on a lot of podcasts during the ride so it wasn’t totally wasted.

It was a much smaller “event” than I had envisioned. They had tables set around a small room (might have been 40′x30′) with a lot of Lie-Nielsen tools. I’ve seen many photos of similar displays but it is impressive to see them in person. It was really cool to see the hand plane collection in particular. I was able to touch a few planes that I may consider getting in the future.

The two planes that I was in particularly interested are the Iron Miter Plane and the Tongue and Groove Plane.

The Iron Miter Plane was very nice in heft and feel. It comes with a “hot dog” which is basically a grip that can be moved from one side of the plane to the other for use on the right hand side or the left hand side. I’ve seen older miter plane designs that have a knob instead of this grip. I’m not sure which would be better in day to day use. It seems to use the same bed angle as the low angle planes which would make it very effective for shooting the end grain. As an alternative to this, I would consider getting the Low Angle Jointer Plane. My reasons for not going with the Low Angle Jointer Plane include the sides of this plane are not as tall as the standard Jointer Plane (which I already own) and the fact, that I already own a jointer plane.

Lie-Nielsen Iron Miter Plane

Lie-Nielsen Low Angle Jointer Plane

The Tongue and Groove Plane had a nice heft though seemed reasonably complex to use with the fence and the fact that the plane does two jobs instead of one in cutting the groove as well as cutting the tongue.

Lie-Nielsen Tongue and Groove Hand Plane

I did watch a session on hand planes and what makes a good hand plane. The instructor was from the local woodworking program (the Port Townsend School of Woodworking) which I have considered (vs the Northwest Woodworking Studio mentioned in many previous posts). The instructor was sharp and did not have the arrogance of some woodworking instructors that I have met. I didn’t really learn anything from the session though it was full of information. I think this could have been useful if we had been given a schedule of these sessions in advance. I could have been there for the sessions that interest me versus just landing on this session.

I did also see (in use) the Shapton Glass Stones. I don’t know how long my Norton stones will last but these are stones I would consider replacing them with. I also saw something that could prove more useful than standard sheets of sandpaper for flattening plane bottoms and plane blade backs. This was Adhesive Backed Sandpaper on rolls. The only weakness (that I discovered later when I got home) was that these don’t seem to be available in high/polishing grits.

I got value from this event but it probably wasn’t worth spending the 5 hours of driving that I needed to get there. If this was more local, I’d go again in a heartbeat (i.e. at the Local Rockler or Woodcraft stores).

Off to Port Townsend

glennth — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:11:46 +0000

Today and Tomorrow Lie-Nielsen Toolworks is at Edensaw Woods in Port Townsend. They are supposed to be showing attendies how to use and tune our tools to make us better woodworkers.

I own a few Lie-Nielsen tools so I felt it was worth the long drive time (and a ferry ride too) to see what I can learn. I have no idea if I’ll be there for the whole day or just a short time.

I’m at the point in my woodworking that a lot of tips are useful. It wasn’t that long ago, that I didn’t even know what I didn’t know. When you are that point, tips are often more confusing and non-productive that they are good for your craft. I guess that means I’m making progress.

Anyway, I’m off on a long trip for a few hours of education.

Shop Tour – Pictoral

glennth — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:44:11 +0000

I know, I know. Finally he shows his entire shop. Of course when you entire shop is less than 10′ x 16′ there isn’t much to show off.

First, here is my main work bench. Someday, I may build my own from scratch but I wanted to get to work so I bought a bench kit from Sjoberg. I did some research and for lesser expensive bench kits, it got lots of good reviews. There are better benches if you are willing to spend $1000′s of dollars (see Lie-Nielsen for example). A real big difference between many shop built benches (or these expensive ones I mentioned) and these in-expensive kits is the weight or mass. These inexpensive kits are prone to moving around as you use them. I’ve drilled holes into the leg bases and the floors so that I can have a removable anchor using dowels. It’s worked great.

Here is a shot of the entire corner where I have a quick/dirty shop made cabinet for hand planes/chisels/marking/measuring tools along with hand saws on the wall. I keep my saw benches (modeled after Christopher Schwarz’ design). This area has really worked out well as I move more towards using various hand tools. You will notice that I have a dust collection set up. This is somewhat the remnants from when I had my table saw (can you imagine a table saw taking up nearly the entire shop) but it’s still useful for shop cleanup and some of the remaining power tools (planer, sander). Notice that I still am working on that handcut dovetail hope chest.

Oposite my main bench is a secondary bench that I use for metal work (though I don’t do this much) and I can put a anvil or metal vise into the bench vises. Above this secondary bench, I have a cabinet purchased from the local borg which holds a few reference books and most of my finishing supplies. Also in the farthest corner, I have a scrap bin and trash on wheels (it’s helpful in such a small shop to allow everything to be mobile.

On the same wall but at the other end as the secondary bench, is where I have my benchtop drill press, benchtop planer, bench top oscillating sander, dovetail jig (for router cut dovetails). Above all that I have storage for fasteners and other misc hardware and supplies. Lastly, is my Craftsman (as in Sears) toolbox for hammers, screw drivers, wrenches, plyers, socket sets and such. Notice in front of the second door to my shop (which is hardly ever used) is a ladder. I use it to get to the overhead storage where I keep other wood odds and ends. Also you can just see my collection of bessy clamps that are vital to building anything.

Opposite the above power tool area is my Festool bench. It’s the orginal MFT 1080 (I think that is it’s number) bench (latest version is the MFT-3 which is a different shape but has the same essential features). I have the MFT bench on top of a shop made cabinet which holds routers (I have 4), circular saws (I have 3), router bits (never have enough), and some other misc tools. Next to that, you can see a band saw which I would like to change out the blade for a wider blade and tune it up so I can use it for cutting both smaller items (that the Festool circular saw has difficulty with) and cutting thicker material to be used for project. Behind the bandsaw, I have scraps that I haven’t put away but behind that I have a panel clamp system.

There are some other elements of my shop that are not actually in my shop. I have had several posts regarding my Sharpening Center which I keep in my garage. Now that you’ve seen the shop you can understand why. Also, if you noticed the dust collection looks like it comes through the wall, it does. I have a small shed outside of the shop where the dust collection system stays and makes it’s dust and noise which is not in the shop. Lastly, I have a sheet goods storage area in another shed (it’s a partitioned part of my gardening shed).

This is what makes up my woodworking efforts. I hope that you enjoyed the quick tour. I hope to put together a video tour as well but that will be later. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments and I will address them as I can.

Handcut Dovetail Hope Chest – Wrap Up

glennth — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:32:46 +0000

See my previous posts giving updates from my Handcut Dovetail Hope Chest from last week (I did 5 daily updates). This post is to give you some progress pictures and show you what happened.
Here is Gary, the owner and teacher of our class at Northwest Woodworking Studio:

Here are a series of shots that show tools, test cuts, layouts, pin boards, tail boards, carcase fit, pre-finish for the inside:

This is my one and only action shot (thanks Katie!). I was cleaning up the outsides so we could cut off the top.

Lastly, here is a class shot with all the students and Gary in front along with our boxes:

Quick Update: Dovetail chest – day 2

glennth — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:11:11 +0000

Today, I finished cutting the tail boards and started on the pins. This is easily the most frustrating part. Getting it to fit tight seems impossible to my current skill level. I get it to fit but the examples the instructor, Gary, does are impossibly tight. Also, he and his assistant have good eyes and tell us (all the students) what the errors are. To me, they look pretty good. Maybe a woodworker needs to grow into tight fitting joints after many less than tight joints (or maybe not).

We did get some pointers today.

Even with hollow ground chisels with a primary cutting bevel, it is still a good idea to do a micro bevel.
25-30 degrees is the angle to use for all chisels even mortise chisels
When fitting dovetails, palm pressure is the strongest you should have to hit it.
When fitting dovetails, start the fitting process at one end of the pair of boards (much like a rolling interlocking of your fingers on your hand).
When fitting dovetails, look for shiny wood where the two boards have rubbed together (for this, you need really good light) and that is where to trim.
Alternatively, use graphite and coat the edge of the tails or pins and see where the graphite rubs off to determine the trim location.
In fitting dovetails, a square (smaller is easier to use) is your friend.
A sharp and long knife is great for helping to clean up the corners.
When chiseling out the space between tails or pins, chisel a rough edge (this way you don’t have to be precise) about 1/8inch away from your marking line. On the other side, move to 1/16″ away (you have to be a little bit more precise but not absolutely) so that the other side is supporting this side.
When doing the cleanup chiseling on the space between tails or pins, paring smaller shavings gets a smoother shoulder (THOUGH the inside of the space actually works with a small valley vs being flat AND won’t work if it has a bump).

It was tiring today probably due to the 105 degree temps but I am still learning a lot. Some of the learning is painful though.

Quick update: Dovetail Chest – Day 1

glennth — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:13:19 +0000

I just got back to the hotel. It’s after 5:30p and it’s over 100 degrees outside. The class is in an old, non-AC’d, warehouse. Did I mention it’s over 100 degrees outside?

The class was great. Gary, owner/teacher of the Northwest Woodworking Studio, first started out with the notion that before you jump in and mess up a project with dovetails, you should do a warmup. He called it his 5-minute dovetails and he reckoned it was similar to a musician warming up before a concert. He had us try it with poplar and then cherry (scraps of about 2″x2″) and a few different techniques including using a coping saw vs chiseling out waste.

In the afternoon, we began working with our real materials. We are making a cherry blanket chest though the size is more of a small toy chest (about 15″ tall and may 20″ x 15″ L/W).

I struggled with planing. It took me quite some time to set up my plane to get the right shaving thickness. Also, I don’t feel I have enough radius in my plane blade. I wasn’t happy with the results of planing. Though with a little scraping though (learned a bunch about that), I mostly fixed the plane issues.

The dovetails were interesting. He started off discussing design options including the notion that regularly spaced dovetails are kind of boring. We discussed pin size, tail size, quantity, position, and strength of each of these options.

I finished the front (or the back) tail board. Tomorrow it’s on to the pins and maybe even dry fit the entire thing if I make enough progress.

Grits – Where to start?

glennth — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:16:21 +0000

I’m still progressing on getting my hand planes tuned up. I’ve finished all my chisels (though I’d like to get a few mortise chisels at some point and will need to get those sharpened). I’m doing one plane at a time but I’ve discovered something that I guess I was taking for granted.

In my post Updated – Sharpening Station and Review – Sharpening Class, I talked about the technique that I learned and adapted for my own sharpening. During the class, Jeff Zens (the instructor) talked about using sand paper on a slab of granite (very, very flat granite) to flatten the back of blades (and we didn’t talk about it, but I felt it could be aplied to the soles of planes). In his discussion, he indicated that we should start with 220 grit then move up (in a lot of steps, 320,600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, and finish with 2000). With this technique, I was getting very flat surfaces for the chisel and blade backs all the way to a mirror finish. With the hand plane soles though, I was having trouble getting the sole flat across the entire surface. I could get it across the majority but I could get the scratch marks on some of the edges. I felt I should be able to do better.

It then dawned on my, why do I have to start with 220. I could go lower. I experimented with 180 and then 100. I found that with 100, I could get the scratch marks across the entire surface and then proceed to 180 and then to the original starting point of 220. This isn’t required for chisel backs or plane blade backs but with hand plane soles, I found this is often necessary. Now I’m getting much better results (I’ll have to revisit the first 2 plane soles I did but otherwise, we are good).

Sometimes it’s important to learn from the instructors but not always take everything as law. That’s what I learned here.